Having already visited Fortitude on a number of occasions to sample their excellent espresso, which is already safely ensconced in the Espresso Quest exceptionals, I was delighted when I heard they would be adding soup to the food selection. This brought a savoury element to their range of sweet baked goods from Manna House.

Like so many other places, they’ve chosen to stock the excellent soup from Union of Genius. They had both Lebanese lentil, and bacon, bean and tomato on offer today. I’m a great fan of the lentil, but it was a while since I’d had the other one, so opted for that.

With room for a little over a dozen folks, Fortitude is small but beautifully designed. It feels instantly calm and tranquil. It boasts an excellent stock of retail coffee beans – the best I’ve seen in the city – so coffee is all around.

The wonderfully friendly owners were soon about the task of ladling soup and preparing espresso. The soup was to the usual excellent standard. I really enjoyed the Manna House sea salt and black pepper bread, too.

The espresso, from Workshop, was excellent, too. In a rare departure towards the sweet end of the market I sampled a little pistachio bundt. It was deliciously moist with a lovely subtle flavour.

So overall, Fortitude is a hugely impressive little place. I’m really pleased to see another top-notch coffee shop open up. The owners have made smart decisions on their suppliers, the place is very stylishly kitted out and the welcome is very warm. I look forward to maintaining my status as a regular visitor.

Scores
Blythe scores Fortitude Coffee
4.5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
4/5 for setting
giving an overall 16.5/20

I ate: bacon, bean and tomato soup; pistachio bundt

I drank: espresso, water

I wore: striped purple shirt

Total bill: £6.30